Manon and Belle Pt. 03

I was actually feeling quite repelled by being so close to them, I could smell them, and neither it seemed were great ones for personal hygiene. Just before I got off the bed though, I quickly scanned both of them, tiring though it was to use that ability twice in succession, confirming what I suspected.

I climbed off and pulled the chair over to the side of the bed. "So I'm going to sit with you for a bit, and explain why I am here, because that amuses me, and also because when the paralysis wears off, you won't be able to remember any of this."

"I should start by telling you that I am a sociopath, not a perfect one according to the people I work for, as sometimes I do form attachments to other people and to a very, very few of those I am tightly committed to. Mostly though I no more care about people than you do about an ant. Now your Susan definitely isn't in the second category, but she does appear to be in the first."

"So here's what you need to know about me. I've used and abused more young women than you can imagine. I've kidnapped, drugged, corrupted and sold dozens of them into slavery, kept them as my sex slaves and debauched them happily for all my adult life, and will certainly continue to do so. So knowing that you might wonder why what you have been doing to your Susan matters to me."

"First, it's that she is sexy and attractive, but instead of using that like I would, to enjoy deeply gratifying sex that would also gratify her, you just beat her to a pulp and treated her like trash."

"Second instead of making her willingly serve you as your sex slave, you deliberately and carelessly infected her with the fatal diseases that you are carrying. Oh and by the way, that is both of you, it's not only our Henry here suffering from syphilis, you dear lady are just entering the tertiary stage of the disease which will have been dormant within you for a long time now. In fact now I wonder if it wasn't you that infected Henry and not the other way around?"

"I've inflicted a lot of pain on women and girls who fallen into my clutches, and they have all begged me to do it to them again, to do it more. Even if I've manipulated their minds and bodies with drugs, which I adore doing, they enjoy it and want more. Your Susan would throw herself overboard rather than be in here with you again."

"Well, you should be nicely stiffened all over now, so I'll leave you with two thoughts. I am an artist at what I do, inflicting pain and pleasure on those I choose to, in carefully thought out and refined ways. You are crude, foul and have all the artistic talent of a house brick, and I loathe that. That alone would probably have led me to do this to you."

"Second, there was another drug in your tea. In about another half hour, it will start to make you feel very sick, and then you will be very sick, for at least a few days. You are going to void your bowels uncontrollably and vomit, until there is nothing left inside you. Your joints will burn like fire and you will probably scream with the pain. And then you are going to do all of it again and again, for several days."

"I'm just going to clear up here, a bit, and then I am going to leave you. You won't remember, but if I ever have to pay you another visit, you will die, I've promised myself that." Having got all that off my chest I felt better, even though I knew such grandstanding was in poor taste and quite unprofessional, but I did rather often fall prey to that chauvinistic vice. Something about having a captive audience I supposed.

I pulled my clothes back on, and poured away the poisoned tea, using their own private head, and dropped the empty vials and paper twists down there two, letting the sea below swallow the evidence. I made some fresh tea and having rinsed out their cups, I refilled them with the fresh tea, lukewarm though it now was, and left a cup each by their bunk.

That done I moved the chair back, tucked them in a bit, and slipped out. To my surprise, I found Poppy squatting on her heels in the corridor, and I didn't think she was just sheltering from the rain that was still falling, even though it wasn't as hard. "Ah Dolly, I was just waiting to see if you needed anything," she said giving me a weak smile, adding "that was quick? They were with Susan for longer yesterday." I didn't know what she thought she was going to do if the Gardens had started on me like they did Susan, but her poorly concealed concern was touching.

"From what Susan told me, I got away lightly, all I had to do was strip, and make their tea," I said. "They both said they aren't feeling well and want to go back to sleep. Guess I'll get it from them later," I said glumly.

Poppy led me back to my cabin, where I found Belle was cradling a sleeping Susan in the bunk again, so I stripped off and joined them, explaining to Belle what I had been up to and why, and about Susan's looming health issue, before I fell asleep.

We were all woken up by the sound of shouting and running feet, and then Travers pulled the door open, looking at us as we slowly untangled ourselves, "Billings, your master and mistress are dead."